Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 293

“She helps me with my math homework. When I run out of fingers...

“She helps me with my math homework. When I run out of fingers to count on, she lets me use her fingers too.”

"I grew up in the Dominican Republic with my grandfather and...

"I grew up in the Dominican Republic with my grandfather and grandmother. Neither of them had any education. Our house had one bedroom for six people. It was half-concrete and half-wood. When it rained outside, it rained inside. I earned most of the money in the house by shining shoes and selling peanuts. I came to America when I was 14, and I told my grandparents that I was going to save up enough money to buy them a new house. I worked at a carwash for four years, and by the time I was eighteen, I had $20,000 saved up. I told my grandparents to start looking for materials because we were about to start building. Then that December, they both got hit by cars, two weeks apart, on the same corner. I almost went crazy.”

"My children’s father was physically and emotionally...

"My children’s father was physically and emotionally abusive, so by the time I left him I had very low self-confidence. I needed something to boost my ego. One day I saw some firefighters handing out recruitment material on the street so I decided to give it a try. All the female recruits trained together, because we had to work harder than the men to pass the test. We trained for six months, three hours a day. I’d go straight from my job to the training sessions. I’d bring my kids with me, and when it was my turn to do the drills, the other women would take turns passing them around. At the end of the six months, I was 120 pounds of solid mass, and I passed the test easily. I never became a firefighter, but those women are still my friends.”

"Instead of telling me that things weren’t working out,...

"Instead of telling me that things weren’t working out, she cheated on me, then told me about that."

"Today’s the due date. I gained more weight during the...

"Today’s the due date. I gained more weight during the pregnancy than she did. Seriously, I gained 40 pounds."

"He got really drunk last night and tried to boil water in a...

"He got really drunk last night and tried to boil water in a plastic pot."
"I wasn’t that drunk. And the pot had metal components."

"I wanted to be a top chef, but I work in the back washing...

"I wanted to be a top chef, but I work in the back washing dishes."

Thanks to everyone who participated in HONY For The Holidays...

Thanks to everyone who participated in HONY For The Holidays this year! As always, we really enjoyed seeing the pictures coming in on Christmas Eve and Christmas. An extra special thanks to everyone who made room at their table for an extra guest. And apologies to anyone who was unable to be matched— we had about 5x as many submissions as availabilities this year. Hope everyone had a great holiday!

“I organized the dance marathon in college, and it was such a...

“I organized the dance marathon in college, and it was such a fulfilling experience that I decided I wanted to go into nonprofit work. But I think I romanticized it too much. I don’t feel like I’m making a difference the way that I imagined I would. There’s a lot of grunt work. And there is a constant flood of people that we’re unable to help. I remind myself that I chose this path, but then I still feel ticked that I’m making a nonprofit salary. And then I feel guilty for being ticked about it. I see people making lots of money selling purses, and I feel angry about it. But then I remember that I love purses, so I shouldn’t complain.”

"I used to have a walking cane with an iron pipe inside. But one...

"I used to have a walking cane with an iron pipe inside. But one day this guy called me a bad name, and he looked like he was reaching in his pocket, so I stroked him with my cane. I thought I’d killed him. So now I just use a regular cane."